Self-Dihua

After the uproar over that nauseating "dinner," the players had lost their appetites entirely. They lay down in twos and threes on relatively clean patches of ground and stared overhead. There was no sky here, only a vast, cold, rust-streaked metal dome. Countless pipes and cables tangled together like a monstrous beast's blood vessels and nerves, blocking the faint light from the upper Hive City and leaving only perpetual gloom.

A silent oppression hung over the trench. Exhaustion and nausea were written all over their faces.

Finally, one player broke the silence with a feeble remark. "Playing this game... is torture for both body and soul."

His words were like a stone dropped into stagnant water, immediately sending ripples through the group.

"Exactly..." The other players nodded in heartfelt agreement. One covered his eyes with his arm, a slight tremor in his voice. "I think once this closed beta ends, I'll never touch another war game as long as I live."

"Same here, I think," another grumbled indignantly. "This dev team had better hope I never find their address, or I'm definitely paying them a visit to have a little chat about life!"

Amid the chorus of complaints, Robert looked thoughtful instead. Gazing up at the oppressive metal firmament, he said slowly, "Maybe... that's what the devs wanted? Are they trying to make an antiwar game?"

"Are you guys going to keep playing?" another player asked, his voice sounding weak. "I probably won't. I think from now on, whenever I hear words like 'fighting' or 'war,' I'll... I'll feel sick..."

"Seriously, dude? You've got PTSD already?" the player beside him said in surprise, then sighed himself. "Though... I probably won't play again after this either..."

"Maybe the devs really are going for something like This War of Mine," one player agreed. "I have to admit, they succeeded. I'm never playing another war game either, including this one."

A mood of quitting spread through the players. Robert, however, shook his head and said firmly, "I'm planning to keep playing. At the very least, I want to experience the game's full story. I'm a gaming UP master, after all. I can't really speak on it without experiencing the whole thing."

"A gaming UP master? No wonder your name sounded so familiar!" As soon as he finished, a player beside him slapped his thigh and sat up. "You're [Dr. Ruan], right? I've watched your videos! I even follow you! If you're sticking around, then I'm going to keep playing too! Got room on your friends list? We can play together!"

Robert hadn't expected to meet a fan here, and readily agreed. "Of course. We're all closed-beta players. It's fate that brought us together."

As he spoke, he deftly opened his data panel to add his new friend. Then he froze.

"Uh... where do you add friends in this game?" He searched through the rudimentary UI. "Wait, does this game... even have an add-friend feature?"

The player who had asked to add him searched his own panel too, then finally gave up in defeat. "Looks like... it really doesn't. This is way too unfinished! Once we log out, we've got to report it to the official team. They have to add it!"

Just then, Robert seemed to think of something, his expression turning contemplative. Suddenly, he spoke. "Don't you guys think this is strange?"

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Based on our earlier deductions, the devs are pursuing absolute realism and... uh, torture," Robert analyzed. "But would they really leave us sitting here doing nothing for hours? That doesn't fit their style."

He sat up, his expression growing serious. "Think about it. Ever since we entered the game, every bit of torture has had 'content.' The jolting troop transport let us experience what soldiers actually endure on the battlefield; the chaotic battlefield made us feel the cruelty of war; that pot... that pot of soup made us understand the dark nature of this universe. All of that was carefully designed 'content' that delivered a powerful emotional impact."

"But what does 'sitting around for hours with nothing to do' accomplish? That's boredom, not torture. For a game, boredom is more fatal than pain. Given the skill this dev team has demonstrated, I don't believe they'd make such an elementary mistake."

In an indescribable dimension of the Warp, Bit, God of Information, "listened" to Robert's analysis with keen interest. A ripple of something akin to astonishment stirred in his consciousness. This "Dr. Ruan" had such a clear chain of logic and such rigorous deductions that, had Bit not been certain he had never interfered with the players' specific thoughts from the very beginning, he would almost have been convinced that all of this really was a script he had arranged in advance.

Robert's words acted like a shot of adrenaline, reviving the dispirited players. Upon reflection, it really did make sense. That bastard designer might have been utterly inhuman, but when it came to "how to torture players," he had at least been creative and delivered actual content so far. It had never been as simple as making them stand around idle as punishment.

"Doc's right!" One player slapped his thigh. "This definitely isn't just a break. It's the calm before the storm! That bastard designer is definitely cooking up something nasty!"

"Then, Doc," another immediately pressed, "how do you think that bastard designer plans to torture us next?"

Robert thought carefully, running through every detail since they had logged in. Suddenly, as though he had hit upon something crucial, his eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "Do you remember what the Commissar told us at the beginning?"

The players were baffled. "The Commissar said plenty of things. Which line do you mean?"

Robert practically reproduced Commissar Walter's original tone, with its blend of encouragement and brutal reality. "[If you're lucky, you might even pick up a master-crafted Bolter!]"

He pointed at the pile of corpses nearby, which still reeked, his voice brimming with confidence. "That's the hint the designer gave us! A clue to a hidden quest!"

"We found Lasguns in the corpse pile before. That proves 'scavenging' is at least one of this game's mechanics! The Commissar wasn't just making an offhand comment. He was telling us there's better stuff in there!" Robert grew more excited as he spoke. "There's still good loot in there, waiting for us to find it!"

Robert's well-supported, thoroughly confident words convinced all the players. Their fear and nausea were replaced by a more primal desire unique to gamers—the hunger for better equipment. The people who had looked utterly done with life moments earlier now had greed gleaming in their eyes.

Realization dawned on one of them, and he couldn't help exclaiming, "Well, damn! After killing the mobs, we even get a treasure-hunting phase. This designer's pretty good at stitching things together!"

In the Warp, Bit smiled faintly. "You're all so good at self-Dihua that it would almost be rude not to play along."

He stirred a little information and energy. "In that case, let's give my adorable players a little treat... The game does need some positive feedback, after all. Consider it a reward for helping me with the closed beta."